Runner Is Out of Style but Not Out of Step : Valencia’s Daza Leaves Cross-Country Opponents in a Daze When He Takes Off

One afternoon last September the Valencia High School boys’ cross-country team set out on its weekly distance run, an easy seven-miler that follows Rose Drive and Golden Avenue past Placentia’s Tri-City Park. The route, which the team calls the Golden Seven, is often reserved for recovery days, to rest sore, tired legs.

But this day would be different.

A transfer student from rival El Dorado High, Igor Daza, had asked to join the Tiger varsity, one of the top-ranked teams in the county, after he had spent only one day on the junior varsity.

The veteran Tigers were not pleased. They thought the newcomer, who had little running experience, should be taught a lesson.

Said Brett Killeen, now at UC Riverside: “We were going to hammer him.”

They started out slowly, and Daza, wearing only long, white cotton swim trunks, took the lead immediately. The others stayed a few steps back, mimicking Daza’s awkward form and his labored breathing. It was obvious, Killeen said, that Daza was a beginner.

But a quarter-mile later, the race was on.

“He really started pushing the pace,” Killeen said. “At first we were making fun of him, his form was so horrible. But he kept picking up the pace, faster and faster. After a while, we were the ones (who were) dying.

“We were all pretending we weren’t tired, but we were hurting. At five miles, he was still working it. I thought, oh boy, it’s gonna be a tough season.”

It was, and it paid off as Valencia won the Orange County Championships and finished second in the Southern Section 2-A. Daza was the Tigers’ fourth man through most of the season.

This season, though, Daza, a native of Bolivia, is not only the top runner at Valencia, but one of the top runners in the county and Southern Section.

After finishing second to La Habra’s Terrence Mahon at the Orange County Championships on Oct. 17, Daza came back a week later to beat Mahon with a third-place finish at the Mt. SAC Invitational, one of the country’s most competitive cross-country meets.

“Igor’s very competitive,” Mahon said. “When things get tough, that’s when he gets going. He did a great job at Mt. SAC. He’s come so far in a year.”

But ask Daza how, why, and when he became so competitive, so readily tenacious, and a shy, shoulder-shrug is his usual answer. Until he is really pressed for comment.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t think I am (tough), really. I like to see myself improve. I like competition. But I am not very satisfied with my running.

“I want to feel better in a race. I don’t feel good in races very often. I would like to feel good.”

Some would point to his running style as a source of that discomfort.

His is an urgent, somewhat flailing form, completely contrasted by the smoother, streamlined style of Mahon or Dana Hills’ Mike Tansley.

It is as if he races not only the runners around him, but the atmosphere as well, clenching and clawing his way to the finish.

“It’s like there’s meat at the end of the race, and Igor’s a hungry lion going after it,” Killeen said.

It is expressive running to say the least, expressive of Daza’s intense desire to stay or get ahead. To many, he is fearless.

“He’s told me his philosophy is that when he starts to feel pain, that’s when he starts going harder,” Killeen said. “I envy him for that.”

Though tenacity is a trait shared by many top runners, Daza’s ability to not only withstand pain but push through it seems a bit more complex.

After Mt. SAC, Daza told Valencia Coach Mike Cummins that he wasn’t happy with his performance, one that Cummins considered exceptional.

“Igor said, ‘Coach, I sure didn’t feel very good when I ran that race,’ ” Cummins said. “I told him, ‘Well, you ran real hard, you know.’ But that’s the whole thing, he doesn’t know. He’s not afraid to hurt, but he doesn’t (know that).”

And that’s why Cummins thinks Daza not will not only challenge for the Southern Section and state individual titles this season, but will develop into a successful collegiate runner as well.

“He has so much potential, he doesn’t even know,” Cummins said. “He only has one real year of training behind him, and he’s already running with the top guys. Had he been here a year earlier . . . “

Daza, a senior, says it might not have made a difference. In his mind, Mahon is the best runner in the county. Next comes Corona del Mar’s Eddie Lavelle, Marina’s Shanon Winkleman, Santa Ana’s Roger Nava and Tansley.

And where does Igor Daza fit in?

“I don’t know,” said Daza, who has beaten all the above at least once this season. “Maybe I’m in there somewhere.”

And someday, maybe miles ahead.